The desert's phantoms
by kklo
Summary: The first of Ludwig Streds' two alternate destinies the other being in the Survivor's Log saga in which he meets the bros' children. A collaboration with Leanne McLeod who was a great writing partner. We wrote the original down in an IRC chat.


The desert's phantoms

The desert's Phantoms  


  
****Originally written in Nov-Dec 1997 by  
Leanne MacLeod & Ludwig Tr.  
(Rewritten by Ludwig Tr. during the time 1997-2000)  
A continuation of "The past of Ludwig Streds"  
  
Through the dark space floated a lonely spaceship, like a piece of thrown-away scrapmetal.  
The only passanger was an unconscious, carrying the name Ludwig Streds, was slowly waking up with a hammering headache.  
"Have to justify the controls..." He mumbled and tried to get up.  
Programming an advanced ship ain't an easy thing to do and he swore over those darn controls that didn't react as he expected them to, but after a couple of minutes worked everything as it should.  
All memories came back now, how he had destroyed a lot for the plutarkians before the escape from that stinking lab on Plutark. They had surely started to chase him after the explosions, therefore he had to reach Mars and hide for a while.  
Later on when everything had calmed down a little could he try to contact some martian freedomfighters and ask for their help.  
Saying he was nervous wasn't not enough to describe his actual feelings. He was scared to death. Without any weapons or any protection of any kind was he forced to land on the red planet and find a good place to stay all alone for at least a few days.  
Thirteen years old and alone isn't the best combination really when you have no relatives, friends or parents, a fact the youngster was well aware off.  
All sweaty and shaking, Ludwig sat down and waited. The hours went by so terrible slowly, but then, he saw the red planet not far away.  
Beyond the red planet ahead was another planet. Not red, it was blue and green.  
The human's eyes got a both sad and longing expression and he fought the argue to let the spaceship fly to his home planet instead.  
Well, it would be too stupid, he could just figure out where his persecutors would search first.  
Besides, what would he do on Earth? What was left?  
He thought about his friends who probably lived there still. But if they didn't? And he would probably drag them into dangers, the last thing he wished.  
A sharp warning sound broke through all thoughts, the ship was running out of energy and he had to choose between takinh it down immediately, or crash.  
With trembling hands grabbed Ludwig Streds the control stick and pulled it forwards so the ship's direction became Mars' surface.  
"So…there…slowly…and carefully…" he mumbled quitely and pulled the stick backwards to make a soft landing.  
It failed.  
The explosion when the spaceship crashed into the desert and broke into pieces rang in the air.  
  


***

  
Thick smoke came coiled up from the spaceship's engines.  
Inside the smashed controlroom managed Ludwig to get up from the floor, his whole body was aching.  
During the last seconds, he had decided to try to find his father's laboratory that should lay in the same desert, somewhere.  
Slowly, the spaceship's front door opened.  
The desert got bigger and bigger as the door opened. Ludwig sighed almost in despair when he saw the vastness of it.  
Only red sand, as far as he could see.  
"**I will never find the laboratory out there!**" he cried out into the emptiness while he crawled out, dragging the bag he had.  
Well outside he looked around and saw how visable the spaceship was, where it stuck out as a cut tumb.  
He had to get as far away from it as possible before someone or something found it and started to look for the passanger.  
An icecold shudder went through him when he thought about it and he hurried away as fast as his condition allowed.  
Everything he needed and could carry was already in his bag. It felt very heavy.  
His feet sank down into the sand, making it very hard to get forward.  
Stubborn and well aware of the limited time continued the human teen his struggle in the desert on Mars while the night slowly arrived.  
Ludwig thought that it was best to try to find shelter for the night, there were probably many dangerous animals out there and he would be an easy prey.  
"I guess I'll be spending the night under a sanddune." he grumbled and sat down beside the biggest one he could find.  
It was of highest important to not drink too much of his water even though he was very thirsty.  
Suddenly he heared some sand shifting nearby. The first thought was 'it's the wind', but the wind was blowing towards the other side of the sand dune and it was quite peaceful there.  
Now he heard the noise again and felt fear rise up inside. He had visions of coyotes, rattlesnakes and other beasts.  
The ground moved more and a giant red animal bursted from the sand. It reminded him of the Hydra in the greek myths his father used to tell him. Its teeth looked sharp, it was screeching loudly and had three ugly heads snapped their jaws.  
That was way worse than any kind of beast he had ever seen, way worse than coyotes and snakes, it was a _monster_.  
He backed away from the driveling monster, but the ground shifted behind him and another one of the hydra-monsters explode from the deep, both of them drooled and snapped their jaws, then rose up and started to pounce on him.  
He put his arms over his head and waited for the blackness of death to swallow him.  
It didn't happened though, because suddenly he felt a jolt and something wrapped around his waist. He was moving and the screeches of the beasts got farther away. Instead were they replaced by a groeling noise that sounded like a machine.  
He opened his eyes to find himself being held by a motorcyclist. The fast bike was outrunning the monsters that followed and after a while did they go tired of the chase and disappeared into the ground.  
The MC stopped and the motorcyclist put Ludwig on the ground, then took off his helmet. Ludwig gasped.  
The biker was a martian mouse like his father had described them, but this one had metal on his face and bionic arms.  
"Hey kid! Don't be scared. I am not gonna eat you!" the mouse said and extended his hand to help the human up.  
"How in the whole world did you get here?" he added when the teenager got up.  
"I stole a plutarkian space ship and crashed here. It's a long story."  
"Whoa, gotta hear that one! I was wondering how that spacecraft got in the desert."  
Ludwig shuffled his feet nervously.   
"Well, it's gettin cold." The mouse got off his bike and fumbled around in his travel baggs. He tossed a blanket to the newfound fellow.  
"Now, you should explain to me, why you were with the plutarkians and why you wanted to get away from them. Maybe I can help you in some way?"  
Ludwig smiled for the first time for a long time and this time with joy. It must've been years since last time.  
"Yes, yes! I do need help!"  
"Well, I'm your mouse! The name's Tredz."  
"My name is Ludwig Streds."  
They shook hands.  
"It is nice to meet you, Ludwig." Tredz said. "Now let's have a supper. I haven't eaten anything for days."  
Ludwig had forgotten that he had got the bag with everything in a very tight grip, so he sat down on the ground and opened it.  
"I have some food I packed down before taking off. But it's not much."  
"Well, it doesn't matter. It's at least better than nothing and we'll get out of here tomorrow so don't worry." Tredz answered and pulled out some of the food-packets.  
They sat down and Ludwig was lost in deep thoughts until the martian suddenly asked: "I'm so very curious, what brings a young human to Mars. Shouldn't you be on Earth with your parents?"  
"I have no parents. My mother died when I was born."  
"That's tough, sorry kid. What about your dad?"  
"He was killed when I was eleven by a rat who was allied with plutarkians. Then they dragged me back to their planet."  
"Oh, man! That's awfull! Is that why you were with the plutarkians?"  
"Yes. They want to use me for their '_intergalactical interests'_ but also want me to tell them about where dad's old laboratory is hidden. He was a scientist and worked here on Mars for some time long before he met my mother. His name was Frank Streds."  
"Alright, then I know about him. Back in the past he was one hot guy around here, hunted by several companies."  
"I know. He wasn't that…healthy back in those days…"  
"Sure your dad was a good guy, no doubts. But I don't know where that lab is, haven't got a clue. I'll try to help you look for it. Maybe your dad left some of his stuff there. It might be nice to have some memories of him."   
"**Your** son? Who?"  
"His name is Throttle and he's one of Biker Mice. He was on Earth for a couple of years but that was a long time ago and he has been home and raised a family for quite a while now."  
"Really? My dad told me about them several times during the story-telling hours in the evenings. He told about them all. Where are they living right now? Am I going to meet them?"  
"Maybe. I haven't seen my son for about seventeen years. I don't know what he's doing or where he even lives. All I know is that he's alive. My friend Stoker came to visit me a couple of months back and told me. I'm sure I do miss him and my whole family."  
Sighing Ludwig stared down at the red sand let it flow between the fingers just because.  
"What should _I_ do now? I have nowhere to go anymore. I have no relatives, no family, nothing besides some friends on Earth who probably believe I am dead. The plutarkians are hunting me and..."  
"Hey, don't worry son. I'm here and I won't let those stinkfish get you! We'll figure somethin out. It's about time I went back home anyway now when all my work here is done."  
"What work were you doing out here that consumed so much time that you had to be away for seventeen years?"  
Tredz lowered his eyes and when he finally spoke he obviously didn't tell the whole truth.  
"Just some really evil and dangerous creatures that were out in the deserts."  
"What kind of creatures?" Ludwig asked nervously.  
Tredz sighed, then smiled. "Don't you worry son, they've been taken care of. That's all that matters."  
  


***

  
That morning was a cold typical martian morning and the heat hadn't taken the desert with it usual stupefying effect. The light from the rising sun was far away, still weak and roaming.  
Ludwig's teeth were chattering by the coldness when he woke up. A sticky and disgusting feeling made him longing for a bath and a real home to wake up in.  
Tredz watched him silently when he got up and streched.  
"Good morning kid.."  
"Mornin'." Ludwig replied feeling dizzy and uncomfortable.  
"Ready for some breakfast?"  
"Yes, I guess so. If there's anything left that is."  
"Not that much. Anyway, you wanna hunt some Saber Squids when we have finished eating?"  
"What's that?"  
"One of those things that was gonna eat you before I rescued you."  
"I...I don't...I don't know...I..." Ludwig said and went pale.  
"It's really fun! Those things aren't as tough as they look."  
Tredz saw Ludwig go even whiter and hurried to say: "Um...ya know what, I bet my wife could make us something. Let's go there."  
"Are we gonna ride away, meeting Mr Throttle and the others?"  
"Sure, that's a good idea. But let's get some breakfast first, ok? I hope my wife didn't move while I was out here."  
They sat down and consumed the last food-packets they had. After a while couldn't Ludwig resist to ask a question that had teased him since the past day.  
"How did you end up as a cyborg?"  
"A Jerkface named Karbunkle made me this way." Tredz said with anger, his eyes glowed red for a second.  
"I know who he is. He kinda…was my guardian for about two years..." Ludwig said lowly. " I hated him even if he always was trying to be nice to me, only because he wanted me to take his place when he retired. I've learnt a lot during the years as a captive, maybe a little too much."  
"Is that why you're here; why you escaped?"  
"Yes, because they were going to move me from Plutark to one of the moons and I understood that it had been nearly impossible to get away from that place so I tricked them and demolated their computer systems before I took off. Now they're searching for me in all ways they can. If they capture me now are they going to……they will..."  
"I think I can guess what. But don't worry, I won't let them get you." Tredz said and put the hand on Ludwig's shoulder. "Now let's get outta this giant sandbox before we get an unexpected and unpleasant meeting with someone."  
Ludwig said he agreed wholeheartedly. He didn't want to meet anymore monsters or plutarkians if he could avoid it.  
They got on Tredz' bike and sped off to an unknown destination.  
  
****

***

  
"Reve, knock it off!!!" Rider hollered at his sister. "Dad! Reve's bugging me!"  
Throttle walked into the living room where his children were arguing.  
"Ok, what's going on?"  
"Reve unplugged my amp, again!"  
"I did it for music lovers everywhere! He sucks! He shouldn't be allowed to own a guitar!" Reve said angrily and folded her arms.  
"You're just jealous because your only talent is kicking people's butts!"  
"I'm not jealous of you, you LOSER!!!!"  
Throttle sighed, he was really sick of them constantly arguing and once again was he forced to play home-diplomat.  
"Rider does **not** suck, Reve. And Reve has many wonderful talents. I want you two to stop your fighting, your grandmother is coming to visit and I don't want her to know what you two are really like!"  
"Hey!" Reve and Rider said in unisin and stared at their dad.  
"Who's watching your brother by the way?"  
Reve and Rider pointed at each other.  
"Great! You better hope he's still alive, I'll be really upset if he isn't!"  
Throttle stalked off, Rider and Reve began to laugh, knowing that their dad was just pretending to be mad.  
He loved watching the kids argue, usually he also tried to get Carbine to bet with him on who would win. That would start another argument between them and everyone would be scraming at each other.It was a blast.  
There came a knock at the door, Reve and Rider ran to open it.  
"I'm opening it!" Reve said.  
"I was here first!" replied Rider.  
Throttle returned holding Chance.  
"**I** will open it! Behave yourselves or I'll tie you both to the back of my motorcycle and drag you across the desert!"  
"Nu- uh! Grandma won't let you!" Reve said grinning wide.  
"You don't thin..." Throttle started to say as he opened the door; but what stood behind it made his mouth drop.  
"Hello son! What's up?" Tredz said cheerfully as he walked into the cave.  
Silverdawn followed him, kissed Throttle on the nose and took Chance from him.  
"Hi kids!" she said as she came in followed by Tredz.  
"Cool arms!" Rider exclaimed when he looked at him.  
"Woah! And a human!" Reve said when she saw Ludwig standing outside.  
"A little one! Is Charley here too?" asked Rider and looked out the door for her.  
"You don't have to stand outside ya know." Throttle said to the youngster who was still standing in the doorway.  
Ludwig entered with some hesitation.  
"You are Throttle I assume?" he said and met Throttle's gaze steadily.  
Throttle thoughtfully examined the human who definitely looked like someone he had met long time ago. He just couldn't remember who.  
Suddenly it hit him.  
"That's right. … Huhm, I am not sure but… Is your father's name Frank?"  
Ludwig froze and started to stare at Throttle.  
"How...how did you know...?"  
"You look identical to him. Same face-expression and almost the same hair. How's your Dad doin nowadays?"  
He didn't get an answer as Ludwig continued to stare at him trying to figure out what to say.  
"Did the plutarkians get him?"  
The silence was heavy.  
"Throttle, why don't you introduce your children to their Grandfather." Silverdawn suggested to brake the emberassing silence.  
"Oh yeah! That's right. Reve, Rider, Chance, this is your Grandfather."   
"Hi." Said Reve and Rider at the same time.  
"What's your name then?" Reve asked Ludwig. "Why are ya here? How'd ya get here? Where did Grandpa find ya? Did Grandpa find ya or did you find him? Where's yar parents?"  
"Too many questions!" Rider said to his sister condescendingly.  
"Shut up!" Reve said to her brother, then turned to Ludwig. "Well?"  
"My name Ludwig Streds. It's a long story how I ended up here, why, and all that. I will tell you about it later."  
"I see, okay. You've a nice name. How old are ya?"  
"Thirteen."  
"Me too!" Reve exclaimed.  
The human turned to Throttle again.  
"In the summer two years ago when I and dad was out in the forests did we accidentally stumble over a group of plutarkians who had escaped some of your hunting spaceships. We were discovered and a rat shoot at us, killed my father. They didn't know what to do with me at first, then decided to take me to their planet. And I've never even met my mother because she died directly after I was born. I have never had a mother and no relatives we knew about. I have really nothing left there so I am kind of lost."  
"I'm really sorry Ludwig. Your Dad was a good man."  
"But you didn't like him, right?"  
"Well, no, not really. It was all a missunderstanding."  
"Why don't you kids go and do something while us adults talk?" Silverdawn suggested.  
"Ok. Let's go Ludwig. We could play video games or watch T.V...." Reve said as she pulled the human fellow by the arm down the hall.  
In the living room Rider grabbed his guitar and showed it to their newfound friend.  
"I got this from Earth, I was visiting dad's human friend and I was playing with one of hers."  
"Can you play it?"  
"Yeah, you wanna hear?" Rider asked.  
"God, _no!_" Reve said and put her hands over her ears.  
"Oh yes. Go ahead!" Ludwig laughed.  
Rider started to play heavy metal and Reve groaned loudly.  
"Very nice." Ludwig said when he had finished. "Personally do I miss some heavy drumbeats."  
"That's not the only thing it's lacking." Reve laughed. Rider scowled at her and she stuck out her tongue as answer.  
"What music do you like?" Chance asked and touched Rider's guitar amazed by it's shininess as usual.  
Ludwig looked smiling at the little mouse, then answered: "Breakbeat-techne, synth, etc. Like Prodigy, KLF, Primal Scream, Kraftwerk, Iggy Pop, Stooges, Joy Division. You name it."  
"What's dat?" Chance asked curiously.  
"I will let you listen, if you want." Ludwig answered and started to dig in the bag. "Oh here!" He put up a CD. "Listen to this. It's 'Fat Of The Land' by Prodigy. Do you have any CD-player somewhere?"  
"Yeah." Answered Rider and took the CD.  
"Play the 8th track."  
"Okay." Rider popped it in.  
Some really load synth-chords came out from the speakers accompanied with several hard drum rhythms.  
Soon started a voice to sing (or more like scream out) a very weird song: "_I'm the trouble starter, punkin instigator. I'm the fear addicted, the danger illustrated. I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter, you're the firestarter, twisted firestarter!_"  
"Hey, this is kinda cool!" Rider said.   
Ludwig smirked and said something no one heard.  
Throttle and Carbine entered the room with Throttle's parents and heard the voice yell: "_I'm the bitch you hated, filth infatuated. Yeah! I'm the pain you tasted, well intoxicated! I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter, you're the firestarter, twisted firestarter!_"  
"Where did you get this song?" Throttle asked.  
"Eeeh...Prodigy..." Ludwig said.  
"It's breakbeat...rave." he tried to explain while the voice roared: "_I'm the self inflicted, live detonator! Yeah! I'm the one infected, twisted animator!_"  
"Chance shouldn't be listening to lyrics like that!" Carbine exclaimed.  
"There's worse on TV Carbine. Leave them alone." Throttle commented as the song faded out in a strong synth-sound.  
"It's bed time for Chance anyway, you kids can continue to listen to that....whatever it is."  
"But Mummy!" Chance started to protest, but his mother gave him a look and he stopped whining.  
A new song started up, first a lot of hard synth-accords and drums, then started the voice to sing: "_Change my pitch up, smack my bitch up..._"  
Ludwig and Rider looked at each other grinning in excitement over that they've have found a common interest.  
  
Later in the evening took the human visitor a deep breath before he begun to tell the listeners about what had happend the two horrible years he had been stuck on Plutark and how he came there in the first place.  
"Plutarkians wanted me to turn out as a new scientist for their reckless science's impetuosity." Ludwig mumbled and made a face of disgust.  
"Luckily aren't those aliens as smart as they think because I tricked them big time and that means that I have both brought shame upon them and destroyed their plans. Be sure that they are going to execute me without mercy if I get into their claws again."  
"They'll probably be tracking you down." Throttle mumbled "We need a plan, for when they get here."  
"I think they are probably here right now." Tredz said. "That spaceship is easy to discover. We should go and find them and get 'em outta here as soon as possible, don't need them doing any more damage to this planet."  
"What about Ludwig? We can't leave him unprotected." Carbine commented.  
"No problems, you and Mom will stay with him."   
"But I'm better at combat situations, not babysitting!" she protested.  
"_Babysitter!?_" Ludwig glared insulted at Carbine.  
"I know, but you'll be better here. There can't be very many plutarkians following him right now. Dad, my bro's and I will be enough to handle them."  
"Fine, go then! But be back for dinner!"  
"That shouldn't be a problem." Throttle answered and grinned.  
Carbine rolled her eyes, Silverdawn walked over to the two men and kissed them both.  
"Be carefull!" she said sternly  
"We will honey bunch." Tredz said assuringly.  
The two of them went out the door. Carbine and Silverdawn went into the kitchen to make lunch. The kids sat alone in the living room.  
"Great!" Ludwig said annoyed and crossed his arms.  
"So, what do you wanna do?" Reve asked Ludwig. "We could go out in the yard and have a sand fight."  
"_Nooooooooo!_" Rider whined remembing the last sand fight they had. It wasn't fun at all, no way.  
"_I'm the trouble-starter._ Maybe we should go outside or something after all?" muttered Ludwig.  
"Great now I have two of you on my hands!" Rider complained.  
"Shut up Rider!"  
"You shut up!"  
"Hmm..." Ludwig said thoughtfully. "Maybe I should leave this labcoat?"  
"Yeah, it will get messed out there." Reve said and smiled mischieviously.  
"She's not kidding." Rider stated.  
"Oh." Ludwig said and folded the coat and put it by his bag.  
"C'mon, daylight's a wasting!" Reve said.  
"Shouldn't we tell Mom?  
"No! She'll make us take Chance, then we'll have to play nice so we don't hurt him, IF she let us out at all that is."  
Ludwig started to feel a bit uneasy but followed the mice nonetheless while they walked silently through the hall, and out of the house.  
"Just because I'm a human who hasn't got big muscles and tail, your people think I'm totally defenseless. It's disturbing."  
"That's not true, wait to you meet Brandie." Rider said.  
"_Who_? You telling me that there are more humans around here?"  
"Maybe, you'll find out soon enough, here she comes." Reve said as she waved to some other teenagers walking down the sidewalk.  
"Hi guys! Wanna have a sand fight!?" Reve hollored.  
Everyone stopped and turned to leave.  
"AWWWW COME ON!!! I WAS JUST KIDDING! JEEZE!" Reve screamed.  
"Way to go Reve. Mom heard that for sure!" Rider said.  
"Shut up Rider!" Reve said shortly and her brother scowled while all the kids turned back smiling.  
There were three mice and a human girl. Ludwig examined her closely with interest. It has been a long time since he'd seen a girl, or any member of his species for that matter. Except for Karbunkle and he didn't really fall into the human category.  
"Guys. This is Ludwig. He dropped in here today." Reve said. "Ludwig, this is Lazer, Vinnie jr. Spark, and Brandie."  
She pointed at the person she was naming.  
"Hey, where'd he come from?" Vinnie asked.  
"**Lovely** put Vincent!" Rider commented.  
"Well, Charley is the only human we know, if he didn't come here by her then what is he doing here."  
"I haven't seen a new human for quite a long time. How did you get here?" Brandie asked him as she examined him from the toes to the head.  
"A long story, neither a funny one. I will tell while we are walking."  
"Okay." Brandie said. "So, what shall we do today? Sandfight excluded because of past bad experiences."  
"I know, let's go cave exploring!" Spark suggested.  
"Yeah!" everyone except Rider exclaimed.   
"Tell me know, WHAT is your problem?" his sister asked.  
"Mom and Grandma are supposed to be protecting him! They can't do that if he's not here!" Rider replied angrily.  
"Ludwig is a big boy! He can take care of himself!"  
"That's right!" Ludwig exclaimed. Finally someone was treating him with some respect.  
Rider scowled.  
"But..." he started to protest.  
"Shut. _Up._ **_Rider_**!"  
Rider scowled once more while everyone started off except him.  
"Are you coming bro?" Lazer asked.  
Rider considered it a moment, someone had to be the responsible one and he was the oldest.  
"Yeah I guess so, but only to make sure there's no trouble."  
"So, how did you end up on Mars?" Brandie asked Ludwig when they walked towards the eastern caves. "Are your parents with Throttle?"  
"No, they've been dead for years."  
"That's awfull, what happened?"  
"Well, I never met my mom. She died when she gave birth to me so I just had my father. He was killed two years ago."  
"By who?"  
"It was a rat, allied with the plutarkians. My father was hated by them as by so many others. He was hated and chased a lot when he was alive. But he never left me for one second, he loved me. I had a great time as little. Dad always did everything for me...loved me more than anything else. I still miss him and always will."  
"I'm so sorry."  
"There's no use to be sorry because it will never change anything, just make it worse. I feel better now than I can remember I have felt for at least years. Just that you all here have accepted me though I am of a diffirent race."  
"We like humans." Lazer said.  
"Hey there are the caves, anyone got a flashlight?" Brandie asked.  
"No!" Everyone exclaimed.  
A kind of curious light seeemed to start glowing in Ludwig's eyes while he looked into the dark entrance.  
"Maybe... Can this be...that place..."  
"Hmmm?" Rider looked at him.  
"Nevermind." Ludwig replied in a strange voice. "Flashlight...I have one, yes.."  
He got up a little flashlight and gave it to Reve.  
"You know something we don't know?" Rider asked him.  
"I have some thoughts...but it's just thoughts. Later, maybe."  
His company looked at him but didn't ask him more.  
"Well, let's go in!" Reve said at the same time as she turned on the flashlight.  
The group entered the cave.  
  
Ludwig looked all around the place they were as. They'd been exploring that cace for about an hour now and he had found no vestiges of that his father had been there, or anyone else for that matter.  
"Maybe we could find some dinosaur bones!" said Lazer while he picked up a strange formed stone and looked at it closely..  
"Not bloody likely!" Spark said.  
"It was just a suggestion, this place is boring! Did anyone bring any comics?" Lazer said defensively.  
"No." Everyone except Ludwig and Brandie mumbled.  
The mice were used to caves, every mouse lived in one. Only a non-Martian could find them so interesting.  
"Let's go home, I'm hungry." Vinnie said  
"No! I wanna look some more!" Ludwig argued.  
"What are you looking for anyway?"  
"Just something my dad told me about once, but as it seems, it was probably just another of those bedtime stories."  
"Oh, well, let's go then. No use looking for something that's not here."  
Everyone started to leave noticed Ludwig something strange with one of the walls. He picked up a piece of the rock as easy as ever. The wall crumbled a bit, revealing a shiny surface.  
"BE CAREFUL!" Rider said loudly. "The whole cave could collapse on us!"  
"No it won't! It's not a normal cave!" Ludwig said beaming and touched the shiny surface. "Look!"  
Brandie went really curious and ran to him. "What have you found?"  
He didn't have time to answer her. He was way to busy to pull away the stones and suddenly they all fell to the ground. A door of metal was now visible.  
"Wow, seems like your dad was right after all!" Lazer said surprised.  
"Open that door then?" Vinnie suggested.  
"Hm, it cannot be opened in a normal way Vincent." Rider commented.  
"This is my father's old laboratory. He told me about it. I'm the only one who can still open it."  
"So, open it then!" Reve said impatiently.  
Ludwig leaned towards the metal and said lowly: " Mediterranean."  
Without a creek and without a noise, the door opened.  
"Wow, you can speak crazy languages just like my dad!" exclaimed Reve.  
"It's Latin, means '"in the middle of the land'."  
"Let's go in!"  
"Should we? I mean, what if your dad boobie trapped it for invaders?" Brandie asked.  
"There shouldn't be any."  
"Then let's go in, but make it short. We have to get home for lunch soon." Reve said.  
"Okay. I will go first just in case of there are any obstacles." Ludwig went through the entrance. "If we find what I think we will find in there, am I afraid that it will take a while until we get will be out of here."  
"Man, it's pitch dark in here!" complained Vinnie jr. "We won't even see where we walk."  
"Leave that to me." Ludwig replied calmly. "Lights on!"  
A soft light shone up the whole corridor as a response to the said words.  
"That's cool!" Vinnie commented and they followed the human.  
The door closed automatically behind them.  
  
"There they are, those stinkfish don't waste any time do they?" Tredz said grimly.  
"No, and neither should we." Throttle answered, looking at the plutarkians who were searching the desert.  
"What are they doing anyway?" Vinnie asked.  
Throttle exchanged glances with his dad. They both silently agreed not to tell Modo and Vinnie about their visitor yet.  
"Does it really matter? They're plutarkians and that's all I need to know." Throttle responded a bit hastily.  
"Good reason." Modo said and Vinnie grinned crazily.  
"Let's Rock and Ride!" The mice sped toward the plutarkians. Modo took two out at the same time with his arm cannon. The rest of the plutarkians started to fire at them, one after one the mice disarmed them. In the end of the little battle had they rounded them up to their ship and held them under gunpoint.  
"Ok stinkfishes, what's up?" Vinnie asked.  
"This planet after we're through here!" a plutarkian said.  
"What is that supposed to mean!" Modo asked.  
"Why don't you go to the caves east of here and find out."  
The mice loooked at each other puzzled.  
"It'd be a waste of time though, by the time you get there it'll be too late."  
-  
Truly amazing, totally unbelievable. Ludwig Streds had never understood how large his father's place really was. His company were also also very interested in the big caves and the instruments there.  
"My god!" Brandie said after a while. "Did he really build ALL this?"  
"Yes he did. It's fantastic!" Ludwig replied and continued to examine the place. "Damn, I want to go through this place NOW but we have been away from home for", he gave his watch a quick look, " about 3 1/2 hours. We'd better leave, we can go back later if we want to."  
"You're right. Mom will surely have some things to say to us when we get home!" Rider said a little bit annoyed.  
They started to walk out from the huge hall the same way they came.  
-  
Mace sat in the darkness, waiting for the group to come out. They had seen them enter the cave and would make sure they wouldn't come out of it alive.  
It had been many years since he'd been on Mars. After the Harley-kidnapping had he been doing jobs at other places like Earth and Andomedia. He was well-traveled and experienced, catching a few small kids shouldn't be any problem for him anyway. His company, five sandraiders, were enough backup for that simple mission.  
Just to make it easier and a little bit funnier had he decided to use the old mouse-mask that turned him into the nice-guy looking MOUSE Mace. No one would ever know that a rat was hidiing beneath it.  
The masked rat smiled to himself and continued to wait for the targets to arrive.  
A few minutes later opened the metaldoor itself and soon walked the kids out followed by the human boy who had caused the fishes so much trouble lately.  
A gesture to the other sandraiders that told them to attack and they quickly ran up from their hideaways. But that human had quick reactions and closed the door before they stopped him.  
"Who are you?" The human girl asked confused, not aware of that Mace wasn't a martian.  
"I am your worst nightmare!"  
"Not mine." The human boy said.  
"Then I have to make you afraid, and more than that. In case you don't open that door, **now**!" Mace growled.  
"Never!"  
"Wrong answer kid. It looks like I will have to show you who's in charge here. Right now!" Mace raised his weapon, pointed it at the human's face. "I can kill you with this without problems. You will be as dead as your father was after I shot him!"  
"**_YOU!_** _YOU_ WERE THE ONE WHO KILLED MY FATHER?!" Ludwig asked enraged.  
"That's right, you pathetic little twerp! And it was the thrill of a lifetime. To be the man to kill the magnificent Dr X. What an honor!"  
"You're **sick**!" Rider exclaimed.  
"So true! But it wasn't only the pleasure of it all. The plutarkians gave me a _mega bucks_ reward for doing it!"  
Ludwig stared hatefully at him and Mace noticed it.  
"Look brat, you better stop looking at me and open that fucking door! Because if you don't, all six of you will be Saber Squid food!"  
"Open the door Ludwig!" Spark cried, tears streaming down her face.  
"Yeah, do as your pretty little friend says Ludwig. If you do you will all come out of this alive, I promise!"  
"A _rat's_ promise ain't worth a crap."  
"Fine, have it your way! The plutarkians don't care if you are killed during this mission." Mace pointed the gun at Ludwig again and was about to pull the trigger when an explosion almost blew the door off the wall, the Biker Mice made another excellent entry.  
"**MACE!!!**" Vinnie shouted and immediately pointed his blaster at him, still mad at him for kidnapping Harley several years earlier.  
"Shit!" Mace muttered before he disappeared, using his transporter device.  
The sandraiders who were left alone pulled up their weapons. Ludwig and the other kids threw themselfes to the ground when the fight begun, it didn't lat long. In a few seconds had bikermice taken all sandraiders out of the game.  
"That was close." Ludwig said when he and the others got up from the ground.  
"Why are you kids here?" Tredz demanded as he tied up a couple of sandraiders.  
"We were **bored**, so what?" Reve said.  
Lazer ran up to Modo, Vinnie Jr and Brandie ran up to Vinnie Jr and Reve went slowly to her father and hugged him, trying to suck up. It didn't work.  
"Why do you _always_ disobey me?"  
"Dunno." Reve said casually and flashed a big grin at him.  
"Rider, you should have known better! I suppose your mother doesn't know about this?" Throttle said in an accusing voice.  
"Why do I always get the blame for everything!?!"  
"Well...it's actually...my fault." Ludwig said in a try to help Rider. "If I hadn't come here, you wouldn't be in danger. It looks like the curse that makes you beeing chased around, went over from dad to me..."  
"Who is that kid and what's he talking about??" Vinnie asked as he finished to tie up one of the knocked-out sandraiders.  
"That's Ludwig Streds, Frank Streds' child." Throttle replied. "He's why the plutarkians are sneaking around here."  
"_Whaaaaaaat!!!?_ Frank Streds' kid!?? **How** did that guy land a girl??" Vinnie exclaimed surprised.  
"Frank was a good guy if you had given him a chance!" Modo put in.  
"Yeah well, leave it to Frank's kid to almost get ours killed! If you ask me, the whole thing was planned."  
"Oh, _get real!_" Throttle said angrily, knowing that Vinnie was being just tad rediculous.  
"Ludwig is **nice**, Daddy! Give him a chance!" Brandie exclaimed.  
"Alright then." Vinnie ansered grumpily to not make his daughter angry.  
Brandie went up to Ludwig who took a step back and said lowly so only she could hear: "I better leave. Your dad will never accept me and probably no other . I don't want to be a picking-victim and I don't want to put you in danger, it is mine alone."  
"NO! Dad didn't mean what he said, he can be really short tempered sometimes. It's just that your dad and him didn't get along very well."  
"I know, I know..." Ludwig looked down to the ground. "But I..."  
"Yeah, ignore daddy!" Vinnie jr said, grinning. "I always do."  
"I heard that!"  
"But where's Ludwig gonna go after you get rid of the plutarkians?" Reve asked her father.  
"I don't know, sweetie. We'll have to figure something out."  
"He can live with your mother and me." Tredz suggested.  
"That's up to mom and Ludwig then, but I don't think this is the place to be discussing this."  
"You're right. Your place?" Tredz asked.  
"Yep."  
"Dad. Can Ludwig ride with us, please?" Brandie asked.  
"What about your brother?"  
"Yeah, what about me?!"  
"You can ride with me." Tredz said to Vinnie jr.  
"Pleeeaaaseee Daddy!"  
Ludwig didn't say anything. He wasn't happy with the thought of riding with this Vinnie.  
"Oh alright. Get on." Vinnie said and made an annoyed gesture and the teen obeyed against his will.  
"Are everyone happy now?" Throttle asked as if he was asking his kids, Vinnie gave him a strange look in reply.  
The mice rode away into the desert, leaving the plutarkians tied up in their ship and the sandraiders in the cave. They would send some soldiers to arrest them later.  
Ludwig held on to Vinnie, feeling furious yet happy all at the same time. He didn't like this Vinnie but he did like his daughter and hoped they could be good friends.  
  


***

  
"_WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!_ We were worried sick! You all need a lesson in **responsibility**!" Carbine shouted.  
"Rider, you should have known better!" Silverdawn added.  
Rider's mouth dropped in anger.  
"It wasn't my fault! I was there to keep them out of trouble!"  
"You did a _wonderful_ job!" Carbine answered sarcastically. "You and Reve are both grounded!"  
"For how long?"  
"I haven't decided yet. Are you going to add anything dear?" Carbine asked Throttle.  
"No, you took care of it."  
"He already hollered at us on the way home anyway." Reve mumbled.  
"But it's not Rider's fault or anyone else's, it's **mine!** I came here and I was the one who opened up the laboratory! If there is someone who should recieve a punishment here, then it's me and no one else!" Ludwig shouted.  
"It's not all your fault. You just should have waited for an adult to explore the cave with you." Tredz said.  
"Yeah, and you kids should've known better." Vinnie finished and Rider sighed with relief. Finally someone who didn't blame him.  
"Mace will return again. He won't give up that easy. I just got to know, that he was the one who killed my father..." Ludwig said between his theeth, his fist clenched.  
"He did?" Vinnie asked surprised over that he had _something_ in common with Frank's son: they both hated Mace.  
"He did." Ludwig replied sadly.   
"You're in no danger from Mace as long as we're around. We've defeated him before and we'll do it again." Modo assured, trying to calm him down.  
"What's so special about that laboratory that Mace and CO want in there so badly?" Throttle asked as he sat on the couch.  
"It is filled with instruments and elements. Dad worked with science that is beyond the plutarkian scientists' most exciting dreams. If they got the lab in their hands they could easily start a big war using all the weapons." Ludwig answered with a sigh.  
"We should go and secure that place then!" Throttle jumped up from his seat. Modo and Vinnie walked out of the room and the tancoloured mouse looked back before he left.  
"We're not going anywhere now, are we?"   
"No!" all the kids except Ludwig said.  
Tredz stretched and yawned.  
"Throttle and the guys can handle this, I'm taking a nap." He said and walked down the hallway, leaving the teens sitting in the livingroom.  
"Ya wanna go listen to anything?" Rider asked but Ludwig just shook his head slowly.  
"Well, you can't just sit there all night." Brandie said. He didn't react or gave any signs of being aware of what they were saying all by a sudden. All he did was sitting on the chair as in trance.  
"What's the matter?"  
As reply, he fell off the chair and hit the floor with a thud.  
Everyone crowded around him. Silverdawn ran into the kitchen and came back with a damp cloth and put it on his forehead while Carbine elevated his feet.  
"Should we get a doctor?" Carbine asked Silverdawn who shook her head.  
"I don't know."  
"A martian doctor doesn't know that much about the humans' physique anyway."  
Ludwig moaned and stirred a little then settled back into unconciousness.  
"I don't think it's serious. He's probably just psychically overwhelmed by the events of the past two days." Silverdawn said.  
"Some kind of stress-symptom." Tredz said and held up Ludwig's left arm. "Look. His body is like jelly."  
"That's what it is." Carbine said. "I've seen it happen to soldiers during the plutarkian wars."  
"Let's get him to a bed, he'll be able to rest better there." said Throttles mother and her husband picked up the teen and carried him to a guestroom in the cave.  
Brandie followed him and watched while he put Ludwig on the bed.  
"Will he be alright?"  
"Of course, he's just tired. We can't imagine what he's been through with the plutarkians. There's no way they could take care of him properly."  
"He seems lonely all the time." Brandie said sadly.  
Tredz smiled a little and ruffled her fair hair before he left the room, leaving Brandie with Ludwig alone.  
She looked at him for a while, seeing that his facial features looked old. Not old as in age, but old as in wisdom. Something told her this boy was forced to grow up way ahead of his time. She thought that was the saddest part of his life.  
He stirred again and blinked his eyes for a minute, trying to focus on the things in the room, turned his head and recognized that he was not alone.  
Brandie hardly noticed at first. She snapped out of her trance and blurted out something incomprehendable.  
Ludwig tried to smile but he felt that he was too tired to even move.  
"I was worried. Are you okay?"  
"No." He answered truly and shook his head.  
"Are you sick?" Brandie asked, well aware of that it wasn't the reason why he was not okay, but she was just trying to be polite. If he wanted to confide his feelings with her then he'd do it on his own.  
"No...yes...I'm so very tired." he replied unbalanced. "Everything is too much all by a sudden..."  
"I'll leave you alone then, so you can get some rest."  
"No, please, don't leave me alone. Don't go."  
"Well, okay. If you really want me to stay." Brandie said and sat crossed legged on the floor.  
He looked at her, blinked a few times before tears started to stream out of his eyes. She got off the floor and embraced him.  
"Don't cry, you're safe now. Nothing else bad can happen now." She whispered and felt how the tears were welling up in her eyes too. This was all too much, Why had this nice guy have such a horrible life? It just wasn't fair!  
"It's not...really that I am…scared. I...I haven't cried..since my father died...I could never...allow myself to cry... it never changed anything.. to the better...and I was..always forced to be strong...to survive...all that happened..."  
"You should always cry when you feel like you need to even though it doesn't change anything. If you keep your emotions to yourself it just makes things worse. Cry your heart out and get all your sadness out in the open. You have to make room for the happiness in life or you will always be lonely even if you're surrounded by friends." Brandie whispered and stroke his hair.  
Finally, he seemed to have gathered his old selfcontrol and dried away the tears.  
"You cried too? Why did you do that?"   
"Your story is so sad. It made me realize how lucky I am."  
"What about your mother? Why did you end up with your dad when your mother still lives on Earth? Don't you miss her?"  
"Sure I do, but I get to see her all the time. She's my dad's best friend besides Harley and his bros. The only reason why they didn't get married was because they didn't think it would work. There are a lot of small minded mice on this planet who hate my mother so they gave it up, he returned to Mars and found Harley, then got Vinnie Jr. I spend the summers here with my dad and mom can visit us by using a transporter. She'll probably be here tomorrow, you can meet her then." Brandie said. "I don't know what I'd do without mom and dad."  
"I miss my father. He was the last one and only one I ever had so close. The only one who really loved me, they took him away from me... I've never really realized it."  
"I hate the plutarkians and Rats!"  
"That Mace was the one who killed him."  
"Don't worry about that. Mace will get what's coming to him."  
A short silence followed until Ludwig asked: "What do you know about my father?"  
"Nothing really, just that my dad didn't seem to like him. Dad can be weird like that sometimes."  
"He thinks I am as my father during those days when dad was insane...when that sick guy McDann was after him.."  
"I heard about him, he was the most evil mouse ever!"  
"He was probably completely crazy. Thanks godness that he is dead. My dad threw him into a deep chasm."  
"Cool! Your dad must've been one _hell_ of a guy, to stand up to McDann like that!" Brandie smiled encouraging.  
Ludwig lighted up a little and waited before he surprised her with a very unexpected question.  
"What kind of _telekinetic_ abilities do you have? Just curious."  
"How'd you know I had such gifts?"  
"I can feel such things. My father had a odd mutation that brought up strange powersources. So I suppose I got some of them too. Sometimes I get feelings, but my sixth sense is weak. Nothing special I can really use."  
"Maybe they're stronger than you know."  
She shifted on the bed and pointed to a glass on the bedtable and said; "Watch what I can do with that."  
She looked at it for what seemed like hours until it slowly levitated a few millimeters off the table. It then hovered and moved out into the air and stayed there in space just floating.  
"That's more than I can cause." Ludwig said and Brandie grinned wide.  
Just then Silverdawn walked in with a fresh cloth for Ludwig's head. The teens turned around quickly as if they were doing something mischievious and were caught.  
The glass fell and smashed to pieces on the floor.  
"_Ooops!_" Brandie said blankly as if it were no big deal.  
"You better get me a broom Brandie." Silverdawn said and smiled, it wasn't the first time she had to clean up one of Brandie's mental accidents.  
When Brandie got up to get a broom, Silverdawn walked over to Ludwig and felt his forehead.  
"How do you feel now, dear?"  
"Better."  
"That's good, you had us worried there for a minute. Can I get you anything? A glass of water perhaps?" she eyed the glass on the floor and grinned. "You two seem to be gettin along well."  
Ludwig nodded vigourosly.  
Brandie entered with the broom, Silverdawn reached for it but Brandie ignored the gesture and began to sweep it herself.  
"It's my mess, I'll get it."  
"Ok sweetie, thanks." Silverdawn she knew a hint when she saw one and started to leave, then poked her head back in the room. "No horseplay though alright, Ludwig needs rest."   
The human looking girl nodded and Throttle's mother left.  
"Your dad will not like this."  
"I don't care if he doesn't like it!" Brandie said as she put the glass in the trash can.  
Ludwig sighed a little bit relieved but suddenly felt that weird feeling coming back.  
"My head is...spinning. The whole world is spinning." he got out and sank back to the pillow.  
Brandie considered running for Silverdawn but decided against it, sat next to him on the bed and watched him, having a feeling this was going to be a good friendship.  
"I am on my way to loose my conciousness again..." he mumbled and slowly begun to drift away.  
"Just sleep. Don't try to resist it." Brandie said as she laid beside him holding his hand. The day had been very strenuous and she really felt for resting a while too.  
Soon, she was sleeping beside her new friend.  
  


***

  
  
"This place is interesting." Modo said.  
"More like boring!" Torque answered. "I thought you guys said there were enemies here."  
"There **were**." Throttle said.  
"Well, there isn't _anymore!_"  
"Don't even start, Torque! I'm not in the mood." Throttle said as he picked up an object and examined it.  
Torque suddenly tackled him from behind and started to pound him.  
"Well, ya better get into it and fast!" Torque laughed. Throttle threw him off angrily so he hit the wall hard.  
"I was only messin around! Holy Demos!" Torque said as he brushed himself off and then staggered up, his long hair tangled and his trenchcoat had been dirty.  
"There's a time and a place for everything!" Throttle said as he got up off the ground. "And this is neither the time nor the place."  
"Sorry, you know how I get when I'm promised action and I don't get it."  
"I know, Vinnie is just like you."  
"Wazzah? Did anyone mention me?" Vinnie asked, looking up from his handlebars.  
"Go back to sleep bro." Modo said.  
"Fine by me!" Vinnie said. "This bites!"  
"That human kid is at your house, big bro?" Torque asked.  
"Ludwig? Yeah!" Throttle answered. "Why do you ask?"  
"No reason." Torque said. "Do you think the fishes tagged him with a tracking device? That'd put a lot of people in danger."  
"I doubt it. They probably didn't expect him to escape."  
"Sometimes the stinkfishes are ready for everything ya know. What's that kid got to do with this lab, anyway? What's so interesting about it, really?"  
"His father built it about tventyfive years ago. He used to think he could control plutarkians. And think that he could make the galaxy his own kingdom too, by the way." Throttle said.  
"And you're not worried?"  
"No, why would I be?"  
Torque shrugged and Throttle scowled. He hated it when his brother did that. Now he actually **was** worried.  
"Hey Vin Man! Are we still on for racing saturday?" Torque asked.  
"If you feel up to it." Vinnie answered looking up from his bike.  
"Of course. Racing is my life!" Torque said and sucker punched him.  
Vinnie grinned.  
"I meant if you were up to losing."  
"AAAAAHHHHHAHAHA! I don't think so gramps!"  
"Who you callin gramps, whippersnapper?" Vinnie and Torque laughed.  
Throttle smiled. Vinnie was his bro, but he and Torque were kindred spirits.  
"This is kinda boring, I think we should go home, no one can get in here without the password anyway." Modo commented.  
"They could if they had a big enough explosive device." Throttle said.  
"This stuff probably doesn't even work." Vinnie said as he kicked a dust covered machine.  
"Then why would Mace want to get in here so bad?"  
"Fine, we'll just stay here and be bored all night." Vinnie complained instead of answering. "Not to mention hungry!"   
"Did anyone bring any food." Throttle let out.  
Everyone gave him a look.  
"Don't look at me like that! I'm not the only one that can think!"  
"Yeah, but you're the only one that's expected to." Vinnie said and everyone started laughing.  
"Then let's go and come back later."  
"Great idea! I really need some hotdogs!"  
"You also really need a breathmint!" Torque said and laughed harder.  
"Very funny!" Vinnie growled.  
  


***

  
Ludwig Streds woke up and didn't remember where he were first. It was evening outside the window but the room wasn't dark thanks to a little light which shone.  
His head still ached -yet not as much as before- and he felt uncomfortable weak.  
"How are you feeling now?" Brandie asked as she sat up, still sleepy.  
"Huh?" He was surprised to find her laying beside him, it was rather unexpected. He said, "I feel better."  
"Glad to hear it. I wonder what time it is?"  
"No idea. You fell asleep too?"  
"Kind of. I was keeping you company and nodded off."   
"Brandie... I like you very much." he got out after he'd been hesitating for a while.  
"I like you too."  
"What will your parents think about our friendship? How about your mother?"  
"She'll undoubtedly be thrilled. Dad is another story."  
"I will like you anyway, no matter what he thinks. I feel comforted for the first time for over two years, by you. I wish dad was still alive, so your father could meet him...and see how he was, before he died..."  
"Well, he can't. I wish he could too though, then maybe he'd change his mind about him."  
"I have no idea what I should do next because the future seems to be so filled of mist. Maybe I won't stay here and take off to some other place, somewhere. All this about the laboratory. Feels like everything is laying on my shoulders right now."  
"Dad, and the others will take care of that so don't worry about it. You can't take the responisbility for everything around that place when it ain't your fault that it exists."  
She moved closer and hugged him. Just in that second Vinnie opened the door.  
"Do either of you want anything to.....**_AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!_**"  
"**DAD!**" Brandie screeached and let go of Ludwig who hardly audible mumbled, "Oh **_no_**."  
Vinnie slammed the door, leaving the kids alone in the room. He stood in the hall, practically hyperventilating.  
"What was the screaming about??" Throttle asked as he came running out of his bedroom.  
"THAT KID IS GETTIN KINKY WITH MY DAUGHTER!!!"  
Brandie threw the door open and stared at her father who bubbled of anger and scramed, "WE WERE NOT!"  
"Then what was that in there?" he demanded.  
Everyone had gathered in the hall and were looking at them.  
"I was just comforting him, he's upset and worried about the laboratory!" Brandie said defensively. "What's going on with it anyway?"  
"No one is trying to break in, not while we were there anyway, we're going back after supper." Throttle said.  
"And YOU are going home!" Vinnie said sternly and grabbed his daughter's hand, she pulled away from him roughly.  
"NO!"  
"What?!" Vinnie answered angrily. "You'll do as I say, young lady!"  
"No I _won't_, because the only reason you want me to leave is because you're afraid I'll get into a relationship with someone you **hate**! AND THAT"S JUST TOUGH!"  
"You're _thirteen_ years old, you're too **young** for a relationship! Now do as you're told and _get on my bike_!"  
"Does V.J. have to go too??"  
"No he didn't do anything wrong."  
"**AND NEITHER DID I!!**"  
With that Brandie took off down the hall and outside.  
"GREAT!" Vinnie exclaimed in frustration.  
"It's your own fault, if you didn't hold a grudge on Frank..." Throttle started.  
"I DO NOT NURSE GRUDGES!" Vinnie said, his eyes going bloodshot.  
Ludwig started after Brandie but the white mouse grabbed his arm, preventing him from going out.  
"Not too fast..." he lost his words in anger.  
"What are you doing? Let me go!"  
"You keep your fingers off my daughter!!"  
"I really wished it wouldn't end up like this..." Ludwig mumbled and kicked Vinnie on his left lower-shin.  
"Augghhh....**you LITTLE**...!!!!"  
Ludwig didn't stay to see what Vinnie thought to do next. He jerked out of the grip and ran outside.  
"_Wait until I get you_, you...you...YOU...!!!" Vinnie was about to run outside but Throttle stopped him.  
"Calm **DOWN** bro! Don't do anything stupid now!"  
"This is wonderful, now we've even more problems than we had before." Reve whispered to Rider who nodded.  
  
"Hey, wait up!"  
"Ludwig, you're gonna get in trouble with my dad. It's best if you leave me alone."  
"No! I don't care about him, I care about you. It's all his problem anyway, not ours."  
"I just hate it when he gets mad." Brandie sighed. "You're right, it is _his_ problem."  
"Well, what now?"  
"Dunno." Brandie replied and sat on the sand "Dad'll be after us any minute and he's hard to run from."  
"Let's hide then?" Ludwig looked around. "Know anymore caves?"  
"I don't think that's a good idea."  
"Hmm. This planet is sure boring"  
"Only when parents ruin the fun."  
"Or me!" Mace said from behind.  
The two teens gasped, got up and tried to run but Mace shot a grapling hook around them out of a grapling gun, forced them to the ground and pulled them towards him.  
A bunch of sandraiders surrounded them with their vehicles.  
"Now I've got you, little scientist! There's a hydrogen-bomb in that lab that you have to tend to. You're a tricky little bugger, so much smarter than your old man."  
"He was smarter than you and you know it!"  
"So how come he's dead and I'm alive?"  
"Because you capitalized on his disadvantage, like the rat you are!"  
"What did you expect?" Mace grinned evilly. "Take 'em to the lab."  
"What about the girlie girl?" A sandraider asked.  
"Take her too. She's the blackmail."  
"Do as I say, or your girlfriend bites the big one!" Mace said and laughed menicingly.  
  


***

  
  
"Where did those two go?!!" Vinnie exclaimed "Brandie knows she's not allowed out after dark! I'm gonna kill her when we find her!"  
"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't of yelled at the two of them. What did you expect?" Throttle commented angrily. He'd been listening to Vinnie rant loudly for half an hour and he was getting a headache.  
"Shut up Throttle! You know what I'm feeling, Reve does this to you every week!"  
"She does not! Sure she's a handfull, but the difference between this situation and one of those is that **you** provoked this! If you yell at your children and try to pick at their friends, they're turning out as rebels."  
"I'm just trying to protect her!"  
"From Ludwig? He's just a harmless kid!"  
"He's Frank Streds' son!"  
Throttle stared hard at his bro. All those years, and he was still jealous of Frank. It was unbelieveable!  
"Frank isn't here. And even if he was, he'd be no threat to any of us, so...**_drop it already!_**" Throttle said first steely then the later part of his sentence furious.  
Vinnie's ears turned red and he stared back at his bro.  
"Stop it you two!" Modo said. "We have to find the children before something else does."  
"And we better do it fast, the moons are full tonight." Tredz said gravely.  
"So?" Throttle asked.  
"Strange things happen when Phobos and Demos are full. Dangerous things."  
"Not those campfire stories again! You of all people should know they're not true, take Ebony for instance. She's not some desert witch like the stories say." Torque said and laughed at the thought of the tales.  
"You wouldn't believe how many of them have a ring of truth to them."  
"Let's just get out of here, it's getting cold and the kids aren't wearing warm enough clothes."  
They started their bikes and started the search again while driving past a row of caves.  
"You don't suppose they went back to the lab?" Modo suddenly asked.  
"They wouldn't...." Throttle started, "would they?"  
They looked at each other, then nodded. It was the most believable thing.  
The bikers rode off quickly and disappeared in the darkness.  
  


***

  
At the same time stood Ludwig in the lab with a few sandraiders guarding him. They didn't have any weapons in their hands but only their presence made an escape almost impossible.  
"Well, what are you waiting for? Fix the hydrogen-bomb! " Mace said.  
Ludwig stared back at him.  
"You're boring me, boy! You wouldn't want me to use your girlfriend as my play-thing now, would you?"  
"I am tired..."  
"So am I." Mace answered grimly. A wicked smile passed over his face. "I bet a little game of beat-this-girl-up would wake me up. How 'bout you?"  
"This is going to take time anyway..."  
"_Then get started!!!_" Mace exploded with rage. He was using his very best threats and they weren't even bothering this kid. It was like he didn't care.  
"I will, I'm working on it."  
"What're we going to do with the kids, when that boy has finished the job for us?" A sandraider whispered to Mace.  
"We're going to Earth and taking them to _Disney Land!_" Mace smacked the sandraider up side his head. "Ask a stupid question! What do you think numbskull?"  
Ludwig heard him and quickly realized what he had suspected all the time; that they were going to kill both him and Brandie whatever he did.  
Then he got an idea and quickly reprogrammed the system-kenel so it would throw itself into an endless loop-sequence.  
"Huhm! Something went wrong." He blurted out.  
"What do you mean brat?!" Mace asked enraged.  
"Looks like dad had coded a destruction-pitfall I didn't know existed..." Ludwig lied. "We are locked out from this system for good."  
Floods of unknown letters and numbers filled the screens.  
"You mean it's gonna blow?" Brandie asked frightened.  
"No, but it's a selfdestruction of the programs that makes the weapons unusable."  
Brandie sighed relieved but the expression was replaced by terror as Mace grabbed her and held a knife to her throat.  
"Big mistake you whelp! Now your little flame is goin' to meet her maker and so are you right after."  
"Please don't hurt her! You have everything else in here. You can take ME back to those who sent you! Let her go, this is my affair alone!"  
"But killing you would be much more fun! Besides, I'm not with those stinking plutarkians more anyway!"  
Brandie closed her eyes and concentrated and the knife suddenly jerked out of Mace's grip, flew across the room, snagged a silly looking cap a sandraider was wearing before it drove itself deep into the stone wall of the cave. The hat fell off it and plopped back down on the surprised sandraider's head.  
Brandie elbowed Mace hard in the stomach. He hunched over and groaned in pain.  
"Let's go!" she hollered to Ludwig, who looked at her with astonishment and start to run after her, with both the sandraiders and a mad Mace behind.  
"In here!" Ludwig gasped and opened a steeldoor.  
"What is this place?" Brandie asked as they ran down a very long steel corridor.  
"I have no idea, just thought they wouldn't find us here. I don't hear them, let's keep on running."  
Brandie ran behind him but she tripped on her shoelace and fell.  
She gasped for air, the wind had been knocked out of her. Ludwig pulled her up.  
"Can you run anymore?" he asked concerned.  
"I..don't have..much..of...a choice.." she said and started to trot.  
The corridor got longer and longer and Ludwig thought they must be miles away from the lab by now. Why was this place here. It was a long walk if it was a section of his father's laboratory.  
Brandie's breathing got steady again and she picked up her pace.  
"Hey look!" Ludwig said.  
The corridor ended abruptly into a deep red cavern so they peered over the edge of the steel floor and looked out over something that looked like a village.  
"This is amazing!" Brandie exclaimed."Look at all those little houses, it's like a city."  
"Get down!"  
The doors of the houses started to open and hooded creatures started to come out of the houses. They turned their gaze to the kids who were laying on the steel floor up in cave's opening.  
"They can see us!" Ludwig said. "We're in more trouble!"  
"Maybe they'll help us?"  
"Have you met any other nice creatures besides the mice?"   
"No, but these people are like hermits or somethin, maybe they're shy?"  
"Or maybe they're scared and they'll do experiments on us, like the Earthling's do in almost every sci-fi movie known to man!"  
"You've been hanging out in labs too much, besides we are about to find out."  
The creatures were making their way up the embankment leading to the steel corridor.  
"Hm, maybe it's better with them than Mace." Ludwig sighed. Brandie nodded with a smile.  
The two sat up and a head that looked like an Earth puppy popped up over the edge.  
Its eyes were milky white and when the creature moved it's head, light seemed to glow off them.  
"Aww, it's cute!" She reached out her hand to pet it. It's mouth snapped open revealing thousands of pointy, razor like teeth, it hissed loudly and dozens of others started up the emankment hissing.  
"_AAAH!!!_ Let's get out of here!!" Brandie screamed and got up quick as the light.  
She and Ludwig started to run back and watched as the little creatures started after them, slithering like snakes and hissing loudly.  
The two teenagers fortunally had faster feet than the little beasts. But suddenly, they smashed into someone who blocked the way.  
"MACE!" Brandie screamed in surprise.  
"Going somewhere?" Mace asked and pointed a blaster at them.  
"They're coming, they'll get you too!" Ludwig said.  
"Nice try..." then Mace started then he heard the hissing. "What on Mars are those things!?!"  
When he saw the teeth didn't he need an answer.  
He grabbed Brandie's and Ludwig's arms and started to run, but the sandraiders just looked dumfounded.  
"**Run**, you idiots!!!" Mace exclaimed.  
"Let go of those kids!" Vinnie roared at the same time he and the rest were riding down the corridor, their bikes almost inaudible over the hissing.  
"_Never!_" Mace screamed and threw the kids against the wall. He pulled out his blaster and aimed. Vinnie shot it out of his hands before he could fire.  
"Someone else, SHOOT THEM!! KILL THEM!" Mace exclaimed "_Kill 'em all!_"   
The sandraiders didn't listen and ran right past Mace and the mice.  
"**Idiots!** **_I'll get you for this!_**" screamed Mace in rage and reached for his transporter only to find out it wasn't there.  
"Looking for something?" Ludwig dangled the little device in his hand.  
"How did you get that...you little..._thief!?_" He lunged at Ludwig, who stepped out of the way. Mace landed hard on the floor, groaned and tried to get up.  
"You…damn...little...brat...!!!" He grumbled, slipped and fell again. The whole pathetic scene made Vinnie laugh.  
"You're losing your touch Mace!"  
"I'll show you my touch you loudmouthed squeaker!" Mace turned on his stomach towards the mice and tried to get up.  
But one of the creatureds clamped down on his leg. He screamed with pain and kicked the thing in the face.  
Five more glamed on to him and dragged him towards the cavern.  
"Little freaks!!! Get off me!!!!! I'll skin you all, _I mean it!!_ " Mace yelled as he disappeared over the edge of the steel ledge. A path of blood streaked the floor where he was dragged.  
"Well, that's the end of him." Tredz said.  
"Really?" Throttle asked.  
"Yes." Tredz said solemly. "Those are called Desert Phantoms."   
"But Desert Phantoms aren't real." Torque protested.  
"Oh you're of little faith, my son." Tredz said and smiled. "You used to believe in them. When you were little."  
"I'm not anymore, what were they really?"  
"Phantoms, are nocternal creatures, their eyes are too sensitive to the sun and they're blind at night except on the full moon. That's when they hunt. You'd be surprised what you'd learn about this planet when you've lived in the deserts for as long as I have."  
"What do they eat? How many of them are there?" Throttle asked.  
"Not many, I've killed off most of them. You know I hate hunting but those things are dangerous. They eat anything. I've seen no more than two take down a Saber Squid."  
"Their village is down there." Ludwig said "You could kill all of them."  
"Nah, they're no threat to us. No one is going to be coming to these caves anymore."  
"It's finally....over..." Ludwig sank down to the floor, exhausted and relieved.  
"Are you okay?" Brandie asked him and helped him up to his feet again.  
"I don't know... I feel like I am going to fall..."  
"You've gotta quit doing this. Relax, or you'll end up with grey hair by the time your fifteen." Brandie said, trying to be humorous.  
"Well, let's go home then." Tredz said "Before those creatures come back for a second helping."  
Modo scowled and muttered: "Yeah, let's go, this place is creepin me out."  
"Yeah I wonder why a corridor was built right to those thing's lair?" Vinnie asked.  
"No doubt we'll ever find out." Throttle replied and turned his bike around.  
They got on the bikes and drove away.  
At the other end of the corridor, a mangled hand popped up over the edge then flopped back down.  
  


***

  
"Cool! Sand people!" Rider exclaimed  
"They weren't cool, they were scary!" Brandie corrected. "I wish Tredz would kill them all!"   
"If we don't bother them, they won't bother us." Tredz said as he watched TV.  
"You're thinking of bees Tredz." Brandie complained. She turned to Reve. "Let's read magazines instead."  
"Why don't you read 'em with your boyfriend?"  
"He's asleep." Brandie stated, then added defensively: "Besides, he's not my _boyfriend!_"  
"Yeah Right!" Reve grinned. "_Brandie and her boyfriend_..."   
"No!" Brandie exclaimed. Reve got up and started skipping down the hall.  
"...sitting in a tree..."  
"Knock it off Reve!" Brandie got up and ran after her. "He'll hear you!"  
"K.I.S.S.I.N.….."   
"_REVE!_" Brandie yelled. Reve slammed her bedroom door and locked it. "I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS! "  
"HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!" Reve laughed hysterically.  
Brandie stopped and concentrated, the lock turned and opened without a sound. She pushed the door open and smiled wickedly.  
"Uh-OH!" Reve exclaimed.  
Brandie tried to pounce on her but Reve doged her and ran out of the room.  
"DAD! HELP! _BRANDIE'S GONNA KILL ME!_"  
"You bet I am. You stupid squeaker!!!"  
"I don't squeak!"  
"You will when I getch'ya!"  
"AAAAAAAAAAARRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"  
"Be more considerate you two! Some people are _resting_." Carbine reprimanded them.  
Brandie punched Reve on the shoulder and ran away before Reve could return it.   
She ran down the hall and bumped into her father.  
"Hi daddy!" she hugged him.  
"What's that for?" he laughed.  
"Nuthin, just cause I love you!"  
"Brandie..." Vinnie kneeled down to look in her face. "I'm sorry I yelled at you today. I was wrong, I shouldn't take my dislike of Frank out on his boy. If you wan't to be his friend then that's ok with me."  
"Oh thank you Daddy!" Brandie kissed him and ran toward the guest room.  
"I said friend now...friend! That means no hanky-panky!"  
Brandie didn't even hear and walked quietly into the room.  
After this day, plus all years as a captive could she see why he was sleeping so deeply. Nothing seemed to worry or disturb him right now, his face was no longer old-looking, it was totally relaxed and peacefully.  
She sat there for a long time and watched him before she got up and left the room  
  


***

  
Two days later were Ludwig and Rider listening to another group from Earth called Primal Scream in Rider's room while they were talking.  
"Kraftwerk were REALLY huge in 90s and early 2000." Ludwig said. "I think most of their members are dead by now.. But their music was really cool."  
Rider listened to the screaming guitars and the hissing songs.  
"These lyrics are kinda...."  
Ludwig wasn't listening. He was playing around with Rider's guitar, he put it aside then went to the window, left and sat back down and tied and retied his shoelaces.  
"You bored or something?" Rider asked. Ludwig looked up as if he just came out of a trance.  
"No, sorry. What were you saying?"  
"I don't remember now."  
"Is Brandie coming over later?" Ludwig asked as casually as he could, he really wanted to see her again. He hadn't seen her since the night Mace was killed.  
Tredz lived pretty far away from the rest of his family so Ludwig was glad they were coming for a visit again.  
There were no teens around his age where Tredz lived and maybe it was just good. Ludwig doubted they'd accept him.  
"Probably, she comes over almost everyday." Rider said.  
"It's late."  
"4 in the afternoon is not late Ludwig." Rider said and grinned. He replaced the jackett back in the cd case and looked around his room, faintly remembered his mom saying something about cleaning it or she was going to take his guitar away for a week.  
"Hey, ya wanna help me clean my room? Since we're not doing anything anyway." Rider smiled a wide pleading smile.  
"Nice touch with the smile." Ludwig said as he picked up some CD-cases.  
"What smile?" Rider grinned.  
The two teens laughed and started cleaning.  
About an hour later the room was pretty well as clean as it could be.  
"That was a lot faster with you helping me. Ya wanna help me do my homework next?"  
"No, you can do that all by yourself." Ludwig answered. Just then Throttle poked his head inside the room.  
"Red!" he said surprised.  
"What?" Rider asked.  
"Red, that's what color your carpet is! I completely forgot!" Throttle laughed.  
"That's _real_ funny dad!" Rider said in an annoyed voice while Ludwig fell into Throttle's laugher.  
"Hey Carbine! Our son's room is clean!" Throttle called down the hall as he left.  
Reve who was walking to her room and looked in. She whistled.  
"Nice, ya wanna do mine next? You do windows don't you?"  
Rider threw a pillow at her. Reve threw a book she was holding at Rider.  
"Behave you two! Vinnie, Harley, Brandie and Charley are coming over and I want you to act like I've taught you something." Carbine said.  
"But mom, you weren't home enough to teach us anything. Dad taught us stuff while you made men out of young soldiers." Reve said smiling and saluted.  
Carbine looked at her with knitted eyebrows.  
"That's my little girl!" Throttle shouted from the living room.  
"You shut up!" Carbine hollered back "Reve go make your room look as nice as your brothers."  
"Awwwww!" Reve said but knew better than to annoy her mother any furthur.  
She shut her room door behind her, but not before sticking her tongue out at her bro.  
Carbine walked down the hall to her husband, she stood in front of the TV and glared at him.  
"Carbine sweetie, you make a better door than a window."  
"Why do you encourage them to turn against me?" she demanded.  
"I wasn't, we were just having fun. You have absolutely no sense of humor."  
"I do too!"   
"You do not! You haven't since you were permoted to being general of the mouse army!"  
"I just want our children to be safe!"  
"And I want them to be popular at biker bars." Throttle flashed a toothy smile at her. Carbine sighed and threw herself on the couch. Chance crawled up beside her.  
"I'm on your side mommy, I'm the one who looks like you." he said happily. Carbine ruffled his hair.  
"Thank's Chancie Boo."  
"Don't call me Chancie Boo, it's not cool."  
"What?"  
"It's not cool sweets." Throttle replied. Chance nodded agreeingly.  
"Since when?" Carbine demanded.  
"Since always, it's an incredibly silly pet name."  
"You came up with it."  
"Did not!" Throttle answered.  
"You did too." Carbine said a matter of factly.  
"Did you daddy?" Chance asked.  
"I must have, your mother is _always_ right." Throttle said sarcastically.  
"Your mother must have had a _wonderful_ time raising you." Carbine said as equally sarcastic.  
"Of course!" Throttle smiled. Carbine threw a pillow at him. "Hey you got after the kids for doing that!"  
"So I'm an adult!"  
"Neither of you are adults! You're overdeveloped eight years olds!" Charley said from the doorway.  
"Hey Charley!" Throttle said, ran over and hugged her.  
"Hi Charley. You got here just in time, Throttle was about to choke on appholstery."  
"And Carbine was about to set a bad example for our children..but ..oops ...too late she already has."Throttle grinned.  
"You two are so immature." Vinnie said. He and Throttle started to walk in the room, they both went to sit in the same chair and started to shov eachother.  
"That's my chair bro!" Vinnie said.  
"I'm afraid you're mistaken!"  
"Oh noo no no no no'!"  
"Oh yes yes yes yes yes!  
"C'mon man!"  
"No it's my chair, in my house."  
"But I'm a guest!"  
"Hrmph! Some guest, everytime you visit you clean out my frige and make a mess!"  
"It's part of my charm!"  
"I'll show you charm!"  
Throttle and Vinnie started rolling around on the floor.  
"And Vinnie thinks he's mature?" Charley commented.  
"Shall I get the broom to pry those two apart?" Harley asked.  
"What are those two tools doing?" Reve said when she walked in the room followed by her brother, Brandie and Ludwig.  
"Nothing dear, absolutely noth..."  
"Is this Ludwig?" Charley asked.  
"Yes mom."  
"Pleased to meet you."  
"Likewise." He answered, captivated by her appearance, this woman really looked a lot like her daughter.  
"Recognize him?" Vinnie asked.  
"No, why should I?"  
"Ok kids. Why don't you go outside and let us adults talk?" Throttle said quickly.  
"But....you're not an adult daddy." Chance said innocently.  
"Heh, never stop beeing cute son." Throttle said and picked him up to hand him to Rider who was putting on his boots.  
"That boy is Frank Streds' kid!" Vinnie suddenly blurted out.  
"What??" Charley exclaimed surprised.  
"Way to go Vincent!" Throttle said angrily.  
Ludwig turned around.  
"Where is Frank?" Charley asked and Vinnie immediately got an angry look on his face.  
"You kids go outside now, ok?" Throttle said and shooted them out the door.  
"**Where** is Frank?" Charley asked demandingly.  
"He is dead, Charley. Some plutarkians and their filthy rat-fellows had taken a break on Earth and he ran into them by an accident about two years ago and got shot." Throttle told her. Charley put her hands to her mouth.  
"That's terrible! Isn't Ludwig's mother with him?"  
Throttle shook his head sadly.  
"Well, is he in some sort of trouble?" Charley asked.  
"Not anymore. Mace is dead now. He wanted him to prepare a hydrogen bomb that was in Frank's old laboratory. But now when he's gone, Ludwig is free and safe. At least for now."  
"Where will he be living? Who is going to take care of him?" Charley asked. "If his mother is dead too and he has nowhere to go."  
Everyone looked at each other without having answers.  
"Glad too see you're all so enthusiastic." Tredz said as he and Silverdawn walked throught the door.  
"It's not a hard question." he added.  
"Yes it is dad. We don't know if he is happy here." Throttle said.  
"Sure he is. It's better than being with the stinkfaces."  
"But, maybe he needs his own people. It's be like a Martian mouse being raised by an earthling."  
"How do we know that such a child doesn't exist?"  
No one answered.  
"He can live with us. Torque is out on his own and Ebony is getting married soon. The house will be pretty lonely with no one but the two of us there." Silverdawn said with a little smile. "But it's up to Ludwig of course, he needs to have a say in this because it's his life we're talking about."  
"C'mon! He's a kid! Just tell him he's staying with you and that's that." Vinnie said.  
Tredz shook his head.  
"He is not a kid. He became an adult when Mace murdured his father."  
Vinnie looked at the floor and said nothing since he knew it was true.  
Throttle shut the door as Ludwig came in. He'd got him while Tredz and Vinnie were talking.  
"Ludwig. Silverdawn and I want to know if you want to stay here and live with us. It's completely up to you.  
Just say the word and it'll happen. But if you want to live on Earth with your own kind, we'll try and find a family there to live with."  
He looked at them for a moment, everyone stood there waiting for an answer.  
It seemed like he was contemplating an answer but he wasn't , he had made a decision instantly.  
"I feel so extremely happy that you want me to stay. So, yes. I want to stay here."  
A shout and a thum came from outside.  
Throttle opened the door and saw Rider, Reve and Brandie sprawled on the ground. They had been eavesdropping.   
"Is he really staying?" Rider asked excitedly and got up at his feeth.  
"Uh huh." Throttle smiled at their mischieviousness.  
"Yay!" They all yelled and ran inside the room.  
"Cool! You're gonna live here!" Rider exclaimed.  
"We could do stuff! You could go to the same school as us! Right?" Reve looked around but nobody answered her because someone else started saying something else.  
"We could teach you to ride a motor-cycle. You could be a Biker Human From Mars like me!" Brandie laughed.  
Tredz hugged Ludwigs shoulders and said: "He'll make an excellent one of those."  
"I don't know.." Ludwig started, not sure if he liked that idea of riding motorcycles.  
"You just have to get used to bikes, that's all. It won't take long in our house!" Tredz snickered.  
"Do you still have your old racer in the living room?" Throttle asked.  
"Of course, where else would it be?"  
"Everyone else seems to be happy, are you truly happy too?" Charley asked the human boy.  
"I've never been feeling this good for years."  
"I can't believe I didn't recognize you as Frank's boy. You look just like him. But what happened to your mother?"  
"She died when she was giving birth to me, so I never knew her. It was always just me and my dad."  
"No other relatives?"  
Ludwig shook his head.  
"That's tough. I'm sorry."  
"Don't be. It was hard for a while, sure. Sometimes I felt like dying because I was so sad, but that's all changed now. I'm surrounded by people I feel for. I finally feel cared for again."  
"So what's the first thing you want to do in your new life?" Brandie asked.  
"Well... I don't know."  
"Let's figure it out outside, what do you think?"  
"Okay." Ludwig said and Brandie started to lead him to the door.  
"Remember what I said the other day!" Vinnie called after Brandie.  
"Whatever." Brandie replied in an uncaring tone and she shut the door. Vinnie scoffed.  
"What did you say to her the other day, Motormouth?" Charley asked him curiously and he sighed a heavy sigh.  
"Brandie likes him."  
"Well, they obviously have a lot in common." Charley said and looked thoughtfull.  
"Yeah but he's Frank's..." Vinnie started.  
"_So?_" Charley demanded.  
"Well, ya know. That thing you two had and now, it's like he's haunting me!"  
"He had good reason to." Charley added.  
"C'mon you two, give it up! The kids are happy, leave it at that." Throttle said.  
"He's right as usual."  
"We can't pick her friends. Or her _boyfriends_." Vinnie added the last part grumpily.  
"Face it Vinnie, no guy would be good enough for her in your eyes."  
"Only if he's a perfect copy of me! I am perfection you know!" Vinnie grinned and flexed his biceps.  
"Yeah, we know Vin!" Charley rolled her eyes, Vinnie ignored her and continued flexing.  
"Where did the rest of our rugrats go?" Carbine asked. Rider, Chance and Reve had disappeared.  
"They'll turn up, we can't lose them no matter how hard we try." Throttle said.  
"I'm gonna get dinner on." Carbine said  
"And I'll help." Silverdawn added.  
"Me too!" Harley and Charley added at the same time.  
"I think we should watch baseball." Throttle said to Vinnie and Tredz.  
"That's my boy! Always thinking!" Tredz said and clapped his arm around his son's shoulders.  
"You three macho mice do know you're on cleanup duty!" Carbine said as she pointed a vegetable knife at them from the doorway.  
"Of course sweets.." Throttle said nervously when he recognized the knife, knewing that his wife was unafraid to use it. He had learned that from previous events.  
"I wish I had of gotten a dishwasher instead of that sattelite dish." Throttle complained.  
"She has you brainwashed bro!" Vinnie exclaimed.  
They sat down in the cough and after a while said Tredz, "I'm really glad Ludwig decided to stay with us. It'll be so great to have another son, and if past performance is any indication, he'll turn out to be a great guy."  
"Yeah." Throttle agreed.  
"And they say I've got a swelled head!" Vinnie said.  
Throttle threw the remote at him, it smacked him on the side of his head.  
"Now it's swelled even more!" Throttle said then laughed.  
Vinnie crossed his arms and tried to look angry.  
He failed and they burst out in laugher all three.  
  
A sunset shone over the Martian surface and over two teenagers who was sitting on a low hill, holding each other's hands.  
"I never thought I would get a new life before. I thought I would end up as my dad, or worse."  
"Things change and usually for the better, a person just has to be patient."  
She moved close, they hugged.  
"I have a new life and it feels so wonderful to be a teenager again. I only wish that my dad could be here, just for a short while. He would be so very happy if he saw me right now."  
"I'm sure he can see you, or feel your happiness. I know he's so glad that you have a great new life and you're happy again."  
Ludwig looked out over the surface, a suddenly, far away, it seemed like he his father was standing there smiling, and waved to him. But it was just an illusion, because the seen disappeared as fast as it had come.  
Brandie gave Ludwig a gently kiss on his cheek while they hold each other tight.  
"The life is changing..." Ludwig said slowly.  
She nodded. "For the both of us."  
They didn't say anything more and continued to look at the sunset, which slowly disappeared below the horizont.  
  


||`·.¸¸.·`||`·.¸¸.·`|| The End ||`·.¸¸.·`||`·.¸¸.·`||  


  



End file.
